The Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ The Customs House, South Shields - March 28

(Review by Lance).

I'm not in the Customs House, South Shields, I'm at the Cotton Club in New York or maybe it's The Monseigneur in Mayfair and Brexit is light years away. That's the aura that pervades when the Pasadena Roof Orchestra is in town.

The band has been going for 50 years but their repertoire dates back to an even earlier age. An age when Roy Fox, Lew Stone, Jack Hylton and Ambrose ruled the roost. In the cinema, Fred Astaire was box office, Puttin' on the Ritz and jigging about in his Top Hat, White Tie and Tails - a couple of numbers sung by frontman Duncan Galloway (pictured) who, on the latter tune displayed some fancy footwork himself. I wager there were a few in the audience who'd also have liked to roll back the carpet (and the years!)

The PRO is a fine band who do what they do do brilliantly. The soloists capture the era and yet do it without sounding dated. Many of them, such as Tom 'Spats' Langham, Adrian Fry and Robert Fowler, are familiar faces on the bandstand at Mike Durham's Classic Jazz Party held annually near Whitley Bay. A surprise dep was pianist Stu Collingwood, a regular on the northeast modern scene he, nevertheless, adapted perfectly and looked quite the dapper-dan in the process. 

Galloway's vocals were timeless, the diction precise, the phrasing worthy of Crosby or, if he'd had a megaphone, Rudy Vallée.

The programme was pretty much as printed (top left) although Lady of the Lavender Mist was replaced by Robert Fowler's sumptuous alto feature - A Flower is a Lovesome Thing - Spats came down front for Frosted Chocolate and the encore merged Side by Side with Pasadena.

A band for all seasons fully appreciated by the good turn out (main auditorium near full).

Come back soon.

Lance.

PS: The Customs House's own band - The Customs House Big Band - can be heard at The Globe Jazz Bar, Newcastle on Sunday night (March 31) and the following day the Red Hot Rhythm Makers - a six-piece all-female band from Edinburgh are at the Prohibition Bar also in Newcastle. That's on April 1 - no foolin'. Both gigs highly recommended.